topic Re: Digital Photo Professional: Blue buffering spinning wheel and a flashing white cursor arrow in Camera Software

Digital Photo Professional: Blue buffering spinning wheel and a flashing white cursor arrow

Dick_Davis — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 00:37:46 GMT

I've been having a long-time ... 10 months?... issue with Version 4.18.10. Opening DPP up I get a combination of a blue buffering spinning wheel and a flashing white cursor arrow. This goes on for 4? minutes. I have to wait until it stops before I can begin editing. This will also appear during editing. Technical support has been ... unfortunately ... less than supportive. I just discovered the newer Ver4.19.10 version. I'm wondering if anyone has had this similar issue. Let's see what happens with the newer version. I've had a Canon camera for 60+ years and would be disappointed if I had to switch.

Re: Digital Photo Professional

March411 — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 21:14:53 GMT

Are you running a Windows or Mac operating system.

I am currently running V4.19.10 on a Win 11 machine and it runs pretty smoothly stand alone. If I have PS and Topaz running I lose some speed, but then they are are slow.

Re: Digital Photo Professional

justadude — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 22:26:48 GMT

I'm running DPP 4.18.1 on a newer Mac. It can be the only program open, and it is sluggish. On the other hand I can open Photoshop, Lightroom, SilverFast 9 (for film scans), Apple Music, and a browser all at the same time, and they all are lightning fast. I'm not sure what it is about that program, but some of us find it slooooow, which is too bad because other than that, it's a good program.

Re: Digital Photo Professional

shadowsports — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 22:51:30 GMT

Greetings,

60+years? As in Canonflex R2000.

What camera are you shooting with now?

Can you provide your system specs? Brand, and model of your computer, processor speed, OS and the amount of installed memory, etc.

I would suggest uninstalling your current version of DPP, restarting and installing a fresh copy of DPP v4.19.10.

Let us know how it goes.

Re: Digital Photo Professional: Blue buffering spinning wheel and a flashing white cursor arrow

Tronhard — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 01:37:40 GMT

Hi and welcome to the forum:
The value of a camera system is not, to me, dependent on the performance of one element alone, particularly the free post-production software. I am surprised that you would consider walking away from a brand you have used, assumedly for most of your life, on that basis alone.

The performance of software is dependent on the system it is running on: the type of computer: e.g. Mac, PC or Linux, the processor(s), RAM, hard disc and the configuration of cache memory. None of which we know and yet that detail is significant.

Inevitably, as applications become more capable, they also become more complex, requiring more system resources. So, it is important to be cognizant of the minimum system requirements for the version of the program you are using.

Re: Digital Photo Professional

justadude — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 14:44:44 GMT

Hey Rick, I read your comment, and it made me wonder if the 4.19.10 version would solve the sluggish issues I've had on the past two Macs. Currently I'm running the Mac desktop on an M2 chip, 32GB of ram, and the latest OS. So I did the uninstall - shut down and waited a few minutes, started up and installed the newest version of DPP - and it is still fairly sluggish (and the only thing running at the time I tested it). I have a photographer buddy who also has the same issues with it... however I know most people have great luck with this program running at a normal speed. So I'm guessing there might be a few more than the two of us (my buddy and I) who just can't get DPP running up to speed. Best guess is there has to be something running in the background that I am unaware of that is causing this issue. Might be true for the OP as well?

Thankfully I reply on LR and PS for most of my editing. I only use DPP on occasion because it does a better job on white balance the native RAW files for any of my infrared photography.

Re: Digital Photo Professional: Blue buffering spinning wheel and a flashing white cursor arrow

wq9nsc — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 15:16:43 GMT

I am in the middle of processing 2,000+ images I shot at Friday night football which included senior night and a celebration at halftime of the 100th anniversary of the football program. I just upgraded to DPP 4.19.1 and I noticed a huge improvement with the complex files from my 1DX III bodies. Prior versions had an annoying lag when switching between the main adjustments and cropping tabs but with the current version I can instantly switch from tool to tool making changes without having to wait which is a HUGE improvement in processing.

I have it set for maximum quality instead of speed and at least on the twin CPU workstation I am using, there is no need to opt for the lower quality/higher speed option of 4.19.1

Rodger

Re: Digital Photo Professional: Blue buffering spinning wheel and a flashing white cursor arrow

shadowsports — Sun, 08 Sep 2024 02:51:16 GMT

We'll have to wait until the OP replies. Then we will have a better idea once he provides details about his system specs and software environment.

Gary,

As far as what 4.19.10 will do. You're MAC is certainly powerful enough to run DPP. I've been running 4.18 until recently, although I do my post on PC's. The laptop I use for travel is a few gens old. Windows 11, i7 with 16gigs of RAM. Its not super speedy, but gets the job done. Its doing fine with DPP 4.18 & 4.19. I haven't tried DaVinci Resolve on it (probably won't). The screen is 14 in. There is no way it will process 4K video well. My MAC is an M1 with 32GB. However I prefer windows to Mac os. 🍎😋

Re: Digital Photo Professional: Blue buffering spinning wheel and a flashing white cursor arrow

Waddizzle — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 18:10:36 GMT

Your default startup folder must contain a LOT of photo or video files.

Because DPP does not keep track of a catalog of imported files like many other apps, it scans the startup folder for image files every time it starts up. On a Windows system, the first time DPP runs it needs a startup folder, so it uses the environment variable for the Windows Media Player startup folder as its initial default.

Assuming this is your issue, how do you “fix” it? Create a new folder in the root directory of your C drive. Allow it to be completely empty. Start WMP and change its default startup folder to this new folder.

Cross your fingers. Start DPP. It should start fairly quickly. DPP will still grab the WMP default because you have not set a default within DPP. Once you set a default within DPP, then it will use your setting, instead of grabbing the default environment variable.

If you wish to reset WMP back to its initial setting, then feel free to do so. I do not recommend it.

Re: Digital Photo Professional

Dick_Davis — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 21:08:26 GMT

I'm curious as to your 2nd paragraph. How was it that I did not meet your expectations?

Thank you.

Re: Digital Photo Professional: Blue buffering spinning wheel and a flashing white cursor arrow

March411 — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 21:17:12 GMT

As Waddizzle noted the start up folder can set the speed for the software, when it loads a ton of images it doesn't run as smoothly. Another way to achieve the goal is to do as Waddizzle suggests and point your start folder to an empty directory or one with minimal content.

Once the folder is created in the DPP menu go to tools/preferences/general settings and at the top you will see startup folder. Chose specified folder and browse to your empty directory/folder, select it and save.

Personally I save images by the day they are captured and attempt to keep them reasonable in size. All my post production software loads better with the managed size.

Re: Digital Photo Professional

March411 — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 21:19:32 GMT

You did perfectly Dick_Davis 😊

That is my permanent signature line and directed to all on the world wide web.

Re: Digital Photo Professional

Dick_Davis — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 21:19:46 GMT

Hi Shadowsports. Do you remember the FTB?, AE1? Currently have an EOS 90D. Computer - HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-1052, 10th Generation Intel Core i5-10400 processor, Windows11, 16GB DDR4-2666 SDRAM memory(2x8GB) Also had a secondary hard drive ...('G').. installed at time of purchase. Installed Ver4.19.10 yesterday but haven't played with it yet. Thanks

Re: Digital Photo Professional

Dick_Davis — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 21:20:25 GMT

TY justadude

Re: Digital Photo Professional

Dick_Davis — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 21:23:42 GMT

TY justadude. I only have DPP for editing. It just seemed like it has slowed down considerably over the past 8 or so months. I have lots of free space on my drive.

Re: Digital Photo Professional: Blue buffering spinning wheel and a flashing white cursor arrow

Dick_Davis — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 21:33:09 GMT

TY Trevor. My computer is adequate enough and I have a lot of free space. I've just been so frustrated at how slow DPP is running. Just as frustrated with Canon Tech Support. After my many, many, many calls to them they know me by my first name now. I was expecting them to work with me and diagnose my issue and come up with a solution. Isn't what 'support ' is supposed to do ? I won't walk away from Canon, but it sure has crossed my mind as a last resort.

Re: Digital Photo Professional: Blue buffering spinning wheel and a flashing white cursor arrow

Dick_Davis — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 21:39:54 GMT

TY Rodger. I'm nowhere near as accomplished as you are. When talking with tech support he had me change to 'HIGH'? or 'SPEED"? ... I can't remember which, but I installed v4.19.10 last night and we'll see what happens

Re: Digital Photo Professional: Blue buffering spinning wheel and a flashing white cursor arrow

Dick_Davis — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 21:56:06 GMT

OMG Waddizzle ... I think I understand what info you gave me, but before I try that I'll have to visit Dr. Jack Daniels first. 🤣

a thank you

Dick_Davis — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 21:59:58 GMT

Just a big "Thank you" to those of you who responded to my first question about DPP to this community. You have encouraged me.

Re: Digital Photo Professional: Blue buffering spinning wheel and a flashing white cursor arrow

FloridaDrafter — Sun, 08 Sep 2024 00:17:27 GMT

FWIW, everyone has their way of working, but this is the way I've always done it with DPP and it works well for me:

I don't do auto downloads that make their own dated folders but prefer to download from the card in folders that I have already made. I make a "Pictures" directory on my C drive, then in that directory I make "year" subfolders. For each year, I will make a dated subfolder with a brief description (the date my photos were shot or dumped) with a numeric prefix (1, 2, 3, etc.) which puts my folders in the order of the download. For each dated subfolder, I make RAW and Edits subfolders as I download. As the year changes, I make that year the "Default" folder in DPP. When I open DPP 4, it opens to the year, so a quick scroll gets me to my downloaded Raw files. This isn't as labor intensive as it sounds 🙂

I've been using DPP for a long time on various Windows computers back to XP. The only slow part of DPP that I experience is when converting my edited Raw files to JPeG or Tiff or its focus stacking, but I am willing to wait as the results are always great. I do always get the best systems when computer shopping, so that could make a difference (lots of RAM, latest CPU, fast bus, fast disc drives, etc.). IIRC, I experienced a "spinning wheel" a long time ago, and it turned out to be a picture sharing app that I had installed which was looking for images every so often. Deleted it, problem solved. I think that was my first post to this forum back in 2014 🙂

Example of my directory structure.

Newton